The Indians are in serious talks for Cubs right fielder Kosuke Fukudome, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. The deal is "very close to happening," tweets Danny Knobler of CBS Sports. With Shin-Soo Choo and Grady Sizemore on the DL, the Tribe has a clear need for outfield help.

Fukudome, 34, is hitting .273/.374/.369 in 345 plate appearances for the Cubs this year. Though his right field defense drew praise initially, he's been below-average per UZR over the last few years. Since Fukudome is owed almost $4.7MM for the balance of the season, the Cubs will likely have to kick in money to make a deal happen. He cannot be offered arbitration after the season, so draft pick compensation is not a factor. Fukudome has a limited no-trade clause, but it's not known which teams are on it.

Seriously, what the fuck does this guy bring? This reminds me of when we aquired Wil Cordero in the stretch run. Why don't we just see if the Astros will trade us Jason Michaels? Or better yet, let the 100th fan through the gate play right field.

"I kill a communist for fun, but for a green card, I gonna carve him up real nice."

"All I have in this world is my balls and my word and I don't break them for no one."

Seriously, what the fuck does this guy bring? This reminds me of when we aquired Wil Cordero in the stretch run. Why don't we just see if the Astros will trade us Jason Michaels? Or better yet, let the 100th fan through the gate play right field.

Its a Asian Travis Buck. Can't get Beltrain. Settle for Fukudome...? At least go after a poor man's Beltrain first... I dont know maybe someone who bats right handed...

"I don't think they're building chemical weapons in Berea. But they might be. I can't say for sure."Chuck Klosterman

RedDawg53 wrote:Hey, at least we got a righty... yeah, he throws right. Bats left

Thought we would acquire a right handed stick

You know that there's 3 days til the deadline, right? It's not like we're done.

We couldn't be after all the effort they've put in exploring every possibility. The Beltran proposal, confirmed by damn near everybody, is proof that they'll give up a big prospect if the opportunity to acquire an impact guy is there.

A God Damn dead man would understand that if a minor league bus in any city took a real sharp right turn, a Zack McCalister would likely fall out. - Lead Pipe

If we are giving up anything decent for this guy I will be so irritated. He's a 34 year old light hitting lefty, just what we don't need. I was thinking to myself on my drive into work that this team is going nowhere, all this talk of trades must be lip service to fans and they'll stand pat and say they tried. Whoops.

onlyindreams wrote:If we are giving up anything decent for this guy I will be so irritated. He's a 34 year old light hitting lefty, just what we don't need. I was thinking to myself on my drive into work that this team is going nowhere, all this talk of trades must be lip service to fans and they'll stand pat and say they tried. Whoops.

With an OBP of .374. It would be nice to have a few more runners on base, no?

Carlton Smith doesn't do a whole lot for me, but I hate losing Abner Abreu. The #'s aren't there and his approach is terrible, but the kid has talent. He's a real boom or bust type guy who could end up a solid ML RF when it's all said and done, or he could never play above AA.

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onlyindreams wrote:If we are giving up anything decent for this guy I will be so irritated. He's a 34 year old light hitting lefty, just what we don't need. I was thinking to myself on my drive into work that this team is going nowhere, all this talk of trades must be lip service to fans and they'll stand pat and say they tried. Whoops.

With an OBP of .374. It would be nice to have a few more runners on base, no?

Yeah, I'm not saying it won't help at all, but giving up prospects for such a meh rental is a bad idea. I'm assuming he'll hit 1st or 2nd and Brantley/Cabrera will probably drop down in the lineup.

We kept hearing that the Tribe is willing to pick up all of a remaining contract (like Beltran), so it's interesting that Chicago is picking up the tabs on Fukodome. Pretty apparent we're not done adding players, based on that line of reasoning.

Adverb Harry wrote:We kept hearing that the Tribe is willing to pick up all of a remaining contract (like Beltran), so it's interesting that Chicago is picking up the tabs on Fukodome. Pretty apparent we're not done adding players, based on that line of reasoning.

Yeah, that's what I mean...I remember hearing that they could pick up about 5 to 6 million, so he's basically a freebie in that sense. So, he doesn't count toward the payroll they're willing to add on.

Adverb Harry wrote:We kept hearing that the Tribe is willing to pick up all of a remaining contract (like Beltran), so it's interesting that Chicago is picking up the tabs on Fukodome. Pretty apparent we're not done adding players, based on that line of reasoning.

This schmoe's a stopgap and nothing more. If we didn't have the OF injuries to Sizemore and Choo, the trade would have never been made. He's marginally better than the current options -- but that's not saying much.

Not the "blockbuster" deal that many Tribe fans are still hoping for. (Don't hold your breath.)

jerryroche wrote:This schmoe's a stopgap and nothing more. If we didn't have the OF injuries to Sizemore and Choo, the trade would have never been made. He's marginally better than the current options -- but that's not saying much.

Not the "blockbuster" deal that many Tribe fans are still hoping for. (Don't hold your breath.)

When has the Tribe ever made a blockbuster trade?

"I kill a communist for fun, but for a green card, I gonna carve him up real nice."

"All I have in this world is my balls and my word and I don't break them for no one."

skatingtripods wrote:Hilarious. The Indians give up a mediocre reliever with a 4.21 career minor league ERA and a guy who is at least 3 years out and may not even become anything and people are still going to bitch.

We got a piece that helps us. He's an upgrade over Buck, Kearns, and Carrera. We did so for $775,000 (the Dolans are cheap!!1!11!) and no real loss in terms of our prospect depth.

He's going to play CF and he's 2nd in defensive WAR. However that's calculated, he's clearly an upgrade at any OF position.

4.34 pitches per plate appearance and only 57 K's? Sign me up.

If you want to bitch about the low RBI, you can, but he's had just 45 ABs with a RISP and he's hitting .311 (.516 OBP!) in them.

I don't think he's really what we need but it looks like we didn't give up any good prospects so I'm cool with it. Maybe they think he can play CF better than Carrera/Brantley while Grady is out, which would be helpful.

andrew6586 wrote:Who did we give up? I still haven't heard anything yet.

Carlton Smith, 25 and in AAA.

Abner Abreu, 21 and in High-A Kinston.

As for Smith, I've never even heard of him. I was looking forward to seeing Abreu in a few years but I guess it's ok that he goes. It would have been a roll of the dice though that he would have made it to the pros. I guess I would approve of the trade because We didn't give up our high end prospects.

Not to mention, Fukudome waived no trade rights to come here. I guess I can read in to that more than others, but it shows me that he doesn't mind/wants to play here. Probably wore out his welcome in Chicago being overpaid, but the fact that he's content with playing here is a comforting thought.

A God Damn dead man would understand that if a minor league bus in any city took a real sharp right turn, a Zack McCalister would likely fall out. - Lead Pipe

The overall fan opinion on him here (Chicago-land) is pretty much neutral. Yeah, they wish he'd have played better during his time up here, but I don't think anyone hates on him much.

His biggest flaw, and one that concerns me a bit the rest of this season, is that he comes out of the gate flying. His first month or two in Chicago he was lights out. The fans were totally stoked with that FA signing. I believe he hit a game winning HR in his first home game.

Then the slow erosion of his stats starts. This year was the same. Starts strong, then fades. No-one knows why, probably including him.

No-one will be sad to see him leave, but no-one's going to wish him ill either.

Seriously, what the fuck does this guy bring? This reminds me of when we aquired Wil Cordero in the stretch run. Why don't we just see if the Astros will trade us Jason Michaels? Or better yet, let the 100th fan through the gate play right field.

He gets on base you whiner. OK he doesn't have power but he hits for a decent AVG he has a very decent OBP and he is MUCH better than what Kearns and Buck are offering right now.

The FO did the best they could after being denied Beltran. Their pursuit of Beltran shows they genuinely wanted to improve and acquire the best trade bait out there.

It makes us better which is what we need. Abner Abreu is blatently never going to become the great prospect he was expected to be and as for the pitcher we gave up... He never had a future in Cleveland.

Great trade.

"There is but one thing of real value: to cultivate truth and justice and to live without anger in the midst of lying and unjust men"

One thing this place is great for is getting a little perspective. Man. Sometimes when I'm angry about things I can't control, I come here and say to myself, well, at least my whole summer isn't ruined because of Kosuke Fukudome.

Seriously, what the fuck does this guy bring? This reminds me of when we aquired Wil Cordero in the stretch run. Why don't we just see if the Astros will trade us Jason Michaels? Or better yet, let the 100th fan through the gate play right field.

But yeah, I can see why you would think that slash line is the same as .228/.275/.342 or .216/.318/.313...

I'd hate to see us mortgage the future this year for such a flawed, downward-trending team, but I'm okay with trades like these. Give up a little, get a little, and see how far we can roll the rest of the way.